5 Garden Feng Shui Mistakes That Can Break Your Backyard’s Positive Energy
It’s finally garden season and that means making your outdoor space as inviting as your home’s interior. And as it happens, a touch of effort goes a long way to help you avoid those garden Feng Shui mistakes.
While Feng Shui is typically sought after in indoor spaces like bedrooms and entryways, the fact is that this revered Chinese philosophy is just as beneficial to the outdoor areas serving as an extension of your home.
So, to avoid any amateur missteps and embrace garden Feng Shui with confidence, here’s everything you should avoid doing if you don’t want to ruin the overall energy of your space.
1. Choosing a Bland Color Palette
Instead: Go for diverse color schemes.
(Image credit: Blanco Design Build. Architecture: Praxis Architecture Miami)
Let’s get into some Feng Shui mistakes typical to a backyard that are best avoided. So, here’s what you should remember when designing your garden for a space that’s pro approved.
While planning your garden’s color scheme, Feng Shui practitioner Anjie Cho puts emphasis on the importance of a diverse palette of hues. “Don’t forget color!” she exclaims. “Having a variety of colors brings in a balance of the five elements in a space.”
When it comes to the wood element, she suggests accessorizing with hues of green, blue, and 2025’s garden color of the year — teal. She also encourages the use of reds and oranges to represent fire, yellows and browns for earth, white and metallics for metal, and black for water.”
Anjie Cho is an architect and Feng Shui educator from New York. She’s been in the industry since 1999 and is now the co-founder of the Mindful Design Feng Shui School.
2. Pointing Sharp Elements in the Direction of Your Home
Instead: Try shielding your house with plants.
(Image credit: Lisa Romerein. Design: Assembledge+)
“Be careful of anything spiky in the garden pointing at the house,” says Feng Shui expert Zoë Vita James. “Such as the roofline of a garden shed pointing directly at you indoors. This will help avoid so-called ‘poison arrows’ affecting your daily indoor life.”
“If you have this already, you can often successfully shield the house by planting a tree between the house and the point. Or by growing a beautiful climber up and over the point of the shed to soften it and successfully absorb this energy.”
3. Incorporating Water Features in Inauspicious Spaces
Instead: Avoid water features or focus them in the North.
(Image credit: Rory Gardiner. Design: Edition Office. Landscaping: Florian Wild)
If you have sprawling garden space, then a water feature can make for an incredible finishing touch. And if you don’t have the space for a swimming pool or a picturesque pond, then you can always call on the viral DIY water fountain trick for some help.
But whatever you do, Feng Shui master Helen Ye Plehn suggests considering the placement of your water feature first to avoid bad garden Feng Shui. “A water feature in the wrong area can create conflict rather than promote prosperity,” she says. “For instance, when placed in the South, which is meant to represent the fire element, this feature can do more harm than good.”
Helen Ye Plehn is the founder of Helen Creates Beauty. She is an aura reader, intuitive painter, certified crystal healer, angel channeler, third generation Feng Shui master, certified Yoga and meditation instructor, and spiritual teacher. She is also an Ayurveda practitioner, Vedic astrologer, Theta healer, and passionate Flamenco dancer.
4. Keeping Disposal Spots Visible
Instead: Opt for hidden disposal nooks that are always out of sight.
(Image credit: Sama Jim Canzian. Design: Scott Posno Design)
Every garden needs a bin or two to keep waste in check. Be it plant waste from your garden or random bits that need to be disposed of when spending time outside, and a disposal spot is essential to any backyard.
However, Zoë tells us that it’s best to keep any waste zones and items well out of clear view. “Try to avoid bins being visible from the house,” she says. “As bins are considered decaying matter and their placement may be meaningful.”
Zoë Vita James is an authentic people-centered Feng Shui consultancy that empowers and enlightens ambitious women to perfectly align their space and their lives with their aspirations and dreams. She co-founded and co-hosts the podcast ‘Feng Shui: The Real Thing’ and is on a mission to create a legacy where the art and science of authentic classical Feng Shui is widely understood and used in the West to transform lives.
5. Forgetting to Set Your Intention
Instead: Take a moment to be intentional for free-flowing Qi.
(Image credit: Ulysse Lemerise Bouchard. Design: MU Architecture)
Last but not least, Anjie tells us that one of the biggest garden Feng Shui mistakes involves forgetting to set an intention in this outdoor space.
“Feng shui principles work very well with landscape design, and many of the principles of both practices overlap,” she says. “An additional part of using Feng Shui when designing an outdoor space or garden is that you can set an intention for your space. And with it, embrace positive energy all around your home.”
3 Plant Picks That are Fittingly Feng Shui
nkuku Ullu Terracotta Planter
Size: Medium
We found this nkuku Ullu Terracotta Planter at Anthropologie and it’s the perfect understated accessory to house your container gardening habit.
Quantity: 3 Plants
Since the benefits of ornamental grass include balancing the yin energy for improved garden Feng Shui, these pony tails grass plants from Amazon are sure to come in handy.
Primrose Glazed Ceramic Bird Bath
Color: Green
For small-space dwellers with limited outdoor real estate, a small fountain or bird bath can bring in that aquatic touch your garden is craving. Take this Primrose Glazed Ceramic Bird Bath, for example.
With all of this expert advice at your fingertips, you can now navigate the path to creating the perfect Feng Shui garden with the flair of a pro. These clear dos and don’ts are a layup for building a positive outdoor space that’s perfect for hosting and of course, your personal enjoyment and relaxation too.
